ANOTHER brilliant piece of play from Richard Fussell proved decisive as the Ospreys came from behind to beat Leinster in the battle of the champions at the Liberty Stadium yesterday.

They were a point behind with 19 minutes left when the full-back was on the end of a quick lineout from Matthew Morgan just outside his 22.

Fussell rounded Leinster No. 8 Leo Auva’a, dummied and cut through the cover before drawing the final defender and expertly putting promising left wing Eli Walker over with a perfectly-timed pass.

Home supporters in a season’s best crowd of 9,246 went wild and outside-half Morgan gave them more joy with the conversion.

The Wales Under-20 star proceeded to crucially slot a drop goal with six minutes remaining to give them a nine-point buffer and ensure Leinster went home without a point.

It means RaboDirect Pro12 title holders Ospreys swapped places with the Heineken Cup kings in the league standings, joining fourth-placed Munster on 23 points.

There’s a distinctive split between the top and bottom half of the table with sixth-placed Leinster being seven points ahead of the Blues in the battle to finish in the top four to reach the championship play-offs.

Ospreys were good value for their victory because of the way they managed to stay afloat in difficult, wet and cold conditions, with their scrum being under particular pressure.

Experienced scrum-half Isaac Boss spotted Ospreys right wing Hanno Dirksen had been lured infield when Leinster had a lineout, leaving a huge area of unguarded territory.

He put a pinpoint box-kick into the inviting space for Fionn Carr to chase, the left wing gathering the ball but mistiming his dive for the try-line.

Ospreys had a lineout but scrum-half Webb’s attempted clearance was charged down by Leinster flanker Rhys Ruddock for Auva’a to score.

Fourteen-point Morgan responded with a hat-trick of penalties and they were just four points behind at the interval despite being on the back foot for much of the opening half.

Ospreys were temporarily reduced to 14 when prop Jones was sin-binned for killing the ball at a ruck in the 50th minute.

Webb saved tries with a superb cover-tackle on Madigan and by shoving Auva’a back following a close-range scrum.

Fussell’s attacking flair swung it the way of the Ospreys, leaving Leinster boss Schmidt bristling with the handling of the scrum by Irish ref John Lacey.

“I felt we had a very dominant scrummaging performance from Heinke and at one stage he was penalised for going down when we had gone forward two or three metres. It was incredibly frustrating,” he said.

“It was a great break from Fussell ... he’s a dangerous returner of the ball.”

... and that drop-goal from Morgan was a pivotal moment.

“We felt we were very much in the game and could have certainly get the result so to end up getting nothing was massively disappointing.

“The top six teams in the league have broken away and it looks like there’s going to be a mad scramble to finish in the top four and make the play-offs.”